Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) criticized President Donald Trump late Thursday for ordering an airstrike in Iraq that killed Qassim Suleimani, the powerful leader of Iran’s Quds Force.
The Pentagon took responsibility for the drone strike, which also reportedly killed several leaders of Iraqi militia groups aligned with Iran. State media in Iran confirmed the death of Suleimani, who was seen as a pivotal military and political leader.
In a written statement issued hours after news of the strike broke, Sanders referred to the attack at Baghdad International Airport as an “assassination.” The president’s “dangerous escalation brings us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East that could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars,” he said, adding, “Trump promised to end endless wars, but this action puts us on the path to another one.”
The senator and presidential candidate compared the move to the United States’ 2003 invasion of Iraq, which he opposed at the time. “I feared it would lead to greater destabilization of the country and the region,” he said in the statement. “Today, 17 years later, that fear has unfortunately turned out to be true.”
During a campaign event Friday in Iowa, Sanders elaborated on his response — and again compared it to the start of the Iraq War.
“I’ve gone to too many funerals in my own state,” Sanders said. “I’ve talked to too many mothers who’ve lost their kids in war. I’ve talked to too many soldiers, men and women who’ve come home with PTSD, who have come home without arms and without legs. And I know that it is rarely the children of the billionaire class who face the agony of reckless foreign policy. It is the children of working families.”
Sanders argued that “the true power of the United States” is demonstrated not by starting wars but by preventing them. “And that is how I will use American power as president,” he said at the Iowa event.
After calling on Congress to “reassert its constitutional authority over matters of war,” Sanders said the country must avoid not only war with Iran but throughout the region. “We need to firmly commit to ending the U.S. military presence in the Middle East, in an orderly manner, not through a tweet,” he said. “And must understand that these wars have cost us so much in blood and in treasure.”
Sanders’ fellow Vermont delegates to Congress also criticized the air strike in written statements issued Friday afternoon.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) criticized Suleimani as “a ruthless killer” and blamed him for the deaths of many Americans. But he said that killing Suleimani would not stop Iran from engaging in terrorism or attacking U.S. interests. “It is more likely to embolden hardliners in Iran and to trigger a further escalation of violent counter attacks,” he said.
Like Sanders, Leahy raised the specter of past U.S. military blunders. “I have been in the Senate since Vietnam,” the senator said. “I have learned how easy it is to get into a war that no one wanted, and that wars never turn out as planned. The initial bravado and rosy predictions soon give way to the costly realities.”
Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the House’s “No War with Iran Caucus,” has previously cosponsored legislation that would restrict the president’s ability to take military action against Iran without explicit congressional approval.
“The Constitution is clear that only Congress can authorize war,” he said in a written statement. “The administration must immediately come before the Congress to explain its rationale for the attack and its strategy in the Middle East. And it must seek approval for any military action in the region.”
Calling Trump “impulsive and erratic,” Welch called the air strike “reckless and utterly without grounding in a coherent Middle East strategy.” The president, he said, had “dramatically increased the risk of a grave escalation of violence in the region. And he placed American soldiers, diplomats and citizens around the world in harm’s way.”
Disclosure: Paul Heintz worked as Peter Welch’s communications director from November 2008 to March 2011.
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We’re doomed to another mistake on the scale of the Iraq War. We never learn. All they have to say is that a bomb is directed at us and people become lemmings. To think of the lives and limbs that will be sacrificed for absolutely nothing is sickening.
A man (Trump) who is essentially a coward, a tyrant and a bully, who is insulated and isolated from the effects of his actions, has opened the door to the probability of a devastating escalation of hostilities between us and Iran. He bypassed informing anyone who might have cautioned against this rash move and the potential consequences, but his puerile, almost psychotic lust for power and blood is insatiable. We will pay and pay dearly.
Trump will do anything to distract from impeachment, including starting a war and getting others killed for his cowardice and corruption . The war-horny GOP is cheering him, of course, because it makes them feel like big tough He-men, and they will call for WAR and tax cuts (again) at the same time. The phony Christian Evangelicals who support Trump want the Apocalypse to happen because they think Jesus will come back and smite all the liberals, leaving the world to hard hearted Right Wing fascists like themselves.
Trump is a symptom of a dying democracy and failing empire. When capitalism fails Right Wing fascism follows.
Well, not killing him didn’t serve our country or the broader world very well.
I’m not opposed to trying something new.
Trump should have never stopped the treaty that Obama had in place! That allowed Iran to build up their nuclear weapons and now trump has pretty much started a war… He’s a worthless piece of crap!!
NorthOldEnder is confusing Trump with Clinton’s tactic to send in missiles while he was lying about his affair with an intern and the heat was being turned up on him. Must be his meds need adjusting again. The appeasement approach Obama tried obviously doesn’t work, and handing them $150B to fund their terrorism wasn’t a brilliant idea. Further, capitalism isn’t failing, but we know the socialist and communists dominating the Democratic party are doing their very best to try.
Mr. Hill should understand it is Iran who opened that door, but he’s a clueless, cowardly liberal apologist and is projecting on the many things he calls our President. Just because he didn’t tell the Democrats, doesn’t mean he ‘bypassed informing anyone”, particularly when you consider the subversive actions of John Kerry and the Democratic party who clearly put their own interests ahead of the country; that is indisputable.
“He’s a worthless piece of crap!!”
. . . whom you and the Hillary Haters put in the White House.
Oh gee a terrorist whose actions resulted in hundreds of deaths of US serviceman and others was taken out. That is the only thing Iran understands, certainly not the lead from behind responses Obama put forward. Unfortunately people need to go back and reread history and causes and effects to understand other countries just do not understand anything but such actions
KNOW, you must need your meds adjusted😁. I sure as hell didn’t want him or hillary in the White house.. Neither one can be trusted!
“KNOW, you must need your meds adjusted😁. I sure as hell didn’t want him or hillary in the White house.. Neither one can be trusted!”
If you didn’t vote for Hillary, you voted for Trump.
Until today, we really didn’t know much if anything about this thug. Since 1979 he’s been sort of an international terrorist responsible for the killing of hundreds if not thousands of people.
If you were the Commander in Chief and were presented with the intelligence and asked, should we terminate him? P.S. He’s in the class of Bin Laden. Would you give him a pass?
Can’t believe the elimination of such a badass is now a partisan issue. What if Obama ordered this?
See ya!
Never heard Bernie decry the killing of civilians from the general that was a known killer and terrorist. Another reason Bernie doesn’t get my vote.
So socialist comrade Sanders. What about the Americans who begged for help for hrs who were killed because that POS president and the so-called Sec of State Killary sat and watched while the Americans were fighting for their lives, the POS president told our Military to “STAND DOWN” as they were on their way to help.
Also Socialist comrade Sanders you are a LIAR when you said Ive gone to too many funerals in my own state, Sanders said. Ive talked to too many mothers whove lost their kids in war. Ive talked to too many soldiers, men. and women whove come home with PTSD, who have come home without arms and without legs.. This from a draft dodger !!! You hate the Military, you voted against anything for the Military/Veterans. You have no friggin idea what war is. You, you POS wouldn’t even help my husband (who was in Vietnam) with the VA hospital. You wouldn’t even return his calls or answer his letters. Why didn’t you open your mouth about Benghazi and when obumass sent 150 billion to Iran. Where was your big mouth then?? I stand by our Military, You never called me when my son was killed. he was in the Army. Never showed up for his funeral either. So go peddle your lies somewhere else. I’m a Gold Star Mother. If no one knows what that is look it up. My son was proud to be a soldier.
KNOW, I sure as hell wouldn’t vote for a Republican and there were better Democratic candidates than Hillary.. Don’t forget this is a write in state and I wrote in my candidate.
DONNA, I have to disagree with you on a couple of things. First even if Bernie didn’t go to Vietnam either did trump! His father had a doctor say that he had bone spurs so he wouldn’t have to go to Vietnam.
Second of all trump broke the law by not notifying the Congress of his plans. He says he didn’t have time but he had time to call his buddy Putin!
What a joke that F-35 fighter jet Democrats like Patrick Leahy deign to comment on military-industrial matters. They are the ones who engaged in corruption to force Obama-Biden Pentagon to abandon objective standards & rating system to base F35 in Vermont’s most densely populated area, regardless of negative impact to health & home values of very demographics the Democrats pretend to care about. Patrick Leahy’s legacy is in the dump. Should have retired long time ago.
While fully agree that Bush was terrible presidency, certainly with respect to Iraq War, these are the same Democrats that stood by as Obama continued disastrous Bush-Cheney wars his entire 8 years, and expanded the Bush foreign policy of neo-con, intervention first regime change against other countries that never attacked American soil. I.e., Syria, Libya, Yemen, Ukraine. This is how someone like Trump gets elected in first place. Because Obama-Biden and Democrats lied about changing Bush foreign policy.
So long as F-35 fighter jet is flying over Vermont, the Congressional delegation has zero leg to stand on. Take care of things you can actually control such as your own addiction to military Keynesianism uber alles before you comment on anyone else.
As things stand right now, Trump hasn’t lied to start a war, like Gulf of Tonkin to escalate Vietnam or like Bush-Cheney, with fake, nonexistent WMD in Iraq. But we know Leahy and his office has repeatedly lied about F35 fighter jet basing process, while Bernie and Peter Welch have stood by like Leahy’s lap dogs on whole thing.
BTW, who was president most responsible for Vietnam disaster? Democrat Lyndon Johnson. And Democrats controlled House and Senate then.
Yikes, this is getting to be a mirror image of the old WCAX comments section. Frightening. Like putting a hundred monkeys in a room with a hundred typewriters.
@Gigrape52@gmail.com notice you didn’t have one thing to say about your beloved Comrade Sanders not coming to my son’s funeral or calling me, or making a comment about not helping my husband with the VA.. Sanders is a LIAR from the get go.!!! He only take take and takes. When he left the race in 2016 did he send back the donations?? Nawww not at all went right into his checking accounts. He only cares about money.!! If I was a big shot who was worth millions or a Hollywood weirdo then he would be gushing over my family. This was my SON who was a very proud American Patriot who is more American dead than Socialist Sanders will ever Be ALIVE !!!!
SO BLESS YOU !!!
Trump is taking out the trash, just like he promised. The globalist cabal is worldwide. We can expect many more in the weeks to come. The world is becoming a safer place.
Why wasn’t the assassination of Osama bin Laden considered a dangerous escalation with Al Qaeda by The Bernshevik as well?